The weirdness of the writer’s perception

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Like many writers, I go through long periods of self-doubt concerning my ability. I write for weeks – no, months, without anyone seeing a word that I have committed to paper. I re-read and re-work and re-read and re-work, until words and story are a jumble of impressions, no longer fresh or interesting to their creator because they have been rehashed so much.

I send the result off to beta readers, who come back with a load of criticisms that lead to more teeth gnashing on my part, and more reworking, and a load more doubt.

Then off it goes to editors and agent.

With Stormlord Rising, book two in this latest trilogy, this culminated in considerable praise. My agent, for example, thinks it the best thing I have ever written, and every time I send her a copy of a lovely review of The Last Stormlord, she gleefully informs me: “Wait till they read Stormlord Rising.”

And still I couldn’t see it.

The copyedit – two of them, in fact, came back, and I have worked my way through both over the past couple of weeks.

Now I have a printed-out copy of Stormlord Rising and I am reading it to make the final tweaks.

And today, suddenly out of the blue – it burst on me, that wondrous, joyous revelation: “Hey, you know what? This is actually good.”

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Pix taken from here originally by Harry Clarke

Comments

The weirdness of the writer’s perception — 2 Comments

  1. I have read that many trilogy writers find the middle book the hardest to write. Maybe it's so because (in chess parlance) they have a clear opening and end games and struggle to keep the intensity going in the middle game.

    It sound very much like you've conquered the middle game (as well as the opening) and I very much look forward to reading 'Stormlord Rising'.

    Q. Are the publishers planning for a three month realease interval or must we wait a year for each?

  2. 6 months apart…

    Dates for Oz:
    The Last Stormlord: Sept
    Stormlord Rising: March 2010
    ?? Stormlord 3?? Sept 2010

    UK/US:
    The Last Stormlord March 2010
    Stormlord Rising Sept 2010
    Stormlord 3 March 2011

    All subject to the vagaries of the industry…

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